Chongzhen Undergraduates

Although there are not many types of steel smelted by Song Yingxing, there is already molten steel coming out, and making cannons must be put on the agenda.

Of course Zhu Youjian didn't understand casting cannons.If he knew everything, he would have to travel with the database like Lingao.And even if there is a database, it is not easy to copy it in this era without any equipment.

Like building guns and ships, you must first start with imitation.Fortunately, Daming now has some craftsmen who can make cannons, and there are also many people who understand the principles of cannons, which are better than shipbuilding.

"Then can I shoot cannons every day?" Liu Liangzuo thought, the place where the cannons are experimented is on his side, wouldn't it be enjoyable every day?

"That won't work. The test site is very dangerous. You are my senior general of Ming Dynasty, so you can't take any risks." Zhu Youjian extinguished Liu Liangzuo's fantasy on the spot.

Although Zhu Youjian didn't know how to cast a cannon specifically, he had read a lot of time travel novels, so he probably knew the iron mold casting method which was more advanced than the lost wax method.

The iron mold casting method invented by Gong Zhenlin in the winter of 1841 is simple and effective, and the technical difficulty is not great.China is the first country in the world to use metal mold casting. As early as the Warring States Period, iron molds were used to cast pig iron farm implements and tools in batches.This technology itself is a mature technology in Daming, but it has not been applied to casting cannons for the time being.

The iron mold casting method plus the internal mold water cooling technology of the Rodman casting method can be called a stunt in this era.I won't make a purely technical description here, just pass it along.

The so-called artillery proving ground is where the cast cannons are brought here for test firing after internal breeching to check whether they are qualified.

"Your Majesty, when will the guns be delivered?" Liu Liangzuo was still impatient.

"Yes, I brought a newly cast cannon this time." Zhu Youjian smiled slightly.

"Where is it?" Liu Liangzuo didn't feel the shadow of the cannon at all.

Zhu Youjian pointed to a four-wheeled carriage in the distance. There was a pile of wooden boxes on the horse, but the boxes were not very big, and they didn't have the stupid, big, black and thick feeling of the red cannon at all.

"Come on, let's take it to an open place and assemble it." Zhu Youjian took the lead and left, and Liu Liangzuo followed behind in doubt.

The cannon was assembled, but Liu Liangzuo was very disappointed.The so-called cannon in front of him was at best a little longer than Hu Zun, and about the same as the Big Frangler.But looking at the shape, it looks like a general cannon.

The General Cannon is the Q version of the Red Cannon, and its range is not as abnormal as that of the Red Cannon.Looking at the appearance of this cannon, it is a little smaller than the smallest General Cannon. This is a child's toy, right?This is what Liu Liangzuo thought in his heart.

Looking at the muzzle again, Liu Liangzuo was startled.The muzzle of this cannon is not small, just like the small General Cannon, it also fires projectiles weighing five catties.The barrel of this gun is not as thick as the general gun, and the gun is very thick at the rear.You know, the cannons of the generals in the Ming Dynasty had almost the same thickness.Only Houjin's red-clothed cannon has this style, but the red-clothed cannon doesn't have such an exaggerated shape.

"Your Majesty, this cannon probably doesn't have five hundred catties?" Liu Liangzuo didn't dare to say too lightly, but he knew that it might not even have three hundred catties.

"The cannon body weighs less than [-] jin. Adding the whole cannon combination, it is estimated to weigh [-] jin. This is for five-jin projectiles."

Zhu Youjian downplayed it, causing Liu Liangzuo to tremble in fright. A four-hundred-jin cannon hit a five-jin shell?This is courting death.

This is a 1841-pound Napoleon m6 shell copied by Zhu Youjian, which weighs about five catties.The Napoleon six-pound field gun has a caliber of 93mm, a barrel length of 1.52 meters (16.3 times the caliber), and a gun weight of 389 kg. It is cast in bronze.

The reason why steel has not been used for the time being is because Song Yingxing's steel technology is not yet mature, and it is already good enough to meet the needs of flintlock guns. It may take a lot of time to refine cannon steel.

"Boom!" The cannon rang, and Liu Liangzuo, who was hiding in the underground bunker far away, was shocked and dared not get up.It wasn't that he was timid, but that he couldn't bear to watch such a cruel scene of bombing.

"Look, it's pretty far away." Liu Liangzuo didn't dare to look up, but Zhu Youjian had already been watching with a telescope, and he didn't even squat down.

Seeing that the emperor was fine, Liu Liangzuo stood up.But he actually saw that the cannon was still in place, just moved back a little bit.

"Your Majesty, didn't the chamber explode?" Liu Liangzuo was very surprised, he thought the chamber would explode.

"No. Would you like to have a shot too?" Zhu Youjian bumped Liu Liangzuo with his shoulder.

"No, no, no! I can only ride horses, but can't fire cannons." Liu Liangzuo was frightened. The fact that the first shot didn't blow up the chamber didn't mean the second shot didn't blow up the chamber. God knows how many cracks the barrel of the cannon has cracked now.

"Powder charge! Double charge experiment." Zhu Youjian shouted towards the cannon.Liu Liangzuo bent down immediately, his face was already pale, and he charged twice the amount of medicine, it really killed him.

"Boom!" There was another sound, Liu Liangzuo just lowered his head when he saw Zhu Youjian, but he was still fine.And that cannon still only retreated a little distance.

"Your Majesty, this cannon is so light, why can it shoot so far?" After several test shots, Liu Liangzuo began to have confidence in this cannon.

"It's made lightly, and four people can carry it up the mountain!" With a [-]-jin cannon body and a few components, according to the current establishment of the Ming army, a squad of soldiers can carry two doors and run up the mountain.A company can be equipped with twelve guns and has reserves.

Sending a company to guard an intersection in the mountainous area, the opponent may have to take a detour, unless he can also carry the red-clothed cannon weighing a thousand catties into the mountain.Zhu Youjian is still waiting for the improved model of Daming flower bomb to match this gun.

As for the 12-pound gun, Zhu Youjian can't afford it at all now, it's too expensive.To sum it up in one sentence: Daming is short of copper!

Chapter 266: Zheng Zhilong's thoughts

Taiwan City and Zeelandia City are a bastion-style building, which is divided into upper, middle and lower floors. It was first built in the fourth year of Tianqi.

Overwater, the current governor of Taiwan City in the Netherlands, is receiving a senior businessman from Batavia, the headquarters of the East India Company.

Although Kuiichi was only a high-level businessman, the main purpose of his trip was to discuss trade with Japan with Overwater, which was also the main source of income for the East India Company in East Asia.

Due to the turmoil in the Ming Dynasty and the control of the coastal areas by the Zheng family in Fujian in recent years, the business activities of the Dutch in Daming have almost come to a standstill, not to mention the sale of goods, even the import of raw silk, porcelain, sugar, tea and lacquerware Both are grossly inadequate.Instead, the East India Company could only look for other import channels, for example, lacquerware was imported from Japan, and raw silk was purchased from Bangladesh and other places.

For example, the largest sugar trade, but because it is in the hands of the Spaniards, the Dutch are anxious because they can't make money.

Fortunately, since the Dutch occupied Taiwan Island, they absorbed a large number of Fujian immigrants and planted sugar cane locally, making a lot of profits.However, the Zheng family not only controlled the mainland's trade, they were also directly involved in the trade with Japan.

In this era, in Japan's foreign trade, only the Zheng family and the Netherlands were recognized as trading partners, and the Zheng family and the Dutch were direct competitors.

The Dutch wanted to make a fortune by monopolizing trade with Japan, so they hated the Zheng family.

"Dear Governor, the board of directors is very dissatisfied with Japan's benefits recently. I specially sent me to ask why?"

Kuiichi, who is in his prime, has just been promoted to a senior business officer at the headquarters. He can be said to be a rising star in the East India Company and has a very promising future.This person is tactful and knows how to measure. This time, he was clearly a supervisor sent by the company, but he still spoke in a respectful tone.

"Oh, Mr. Frederick, this is all the fault of Zheng Zhilong of the Ming Dynasty. Their relationship with Japan is deeper than ours. They have been secretly being shameful villains and robbing us of the opportunities that belonged to us." Owo Twat also understands that Batavia only cares about profits regardless of difficulties.

"Then we should drive these rat-like Ming people out of this sea." Kui Yi felt that the sea should only belong to the Dutch, and trade can only be done by the great Dutch.

"No no! Our warships can't control this sea area yet, and Zheng Zhilong's fleet is still very large. I hope the board of directors will consider sending our fleet to consolidate this area."

"I'm afraid it won't work, my dear Overwater. You know we're in a war with the Spaniards, and the Board didn't have any spare ships to send over."

"Then what should we do?" Overwater didn't want to go to war with Zheng Zhilong directly. If he lost some ships, he would face a trial by the board of directors.

"I heard that we had grain trade with Jin last year. Why didn't we form an alliance with Jin? They were at war with Ming." Kui didn't know much about the situation in the Central Plains. He only knew that Ming and Houjin had been at war.

"But I also know that Jin Guo and Zheng are also engaged in grain trade, and there is no war between them."

The two were gossiping when a soldier sent in a letter, saying that the Kingdom of Jin had sent an envoy.As soon as Kui didn't know that Overwater had official contacts with Hou Jin, he stared at him curiously.

"Mr. Governor, what do you think the Golden State will ask of us?"

"Only God knows!" Overwater said with a shrug that he didn't understand either.

......

At the beginning of March in the 19th year of Chongzhen, the residence of the Zheng family in Anhai Town, Fujian Province.

Zheng Zhilong was throwing thunder, yelling and cursing several wounded soldiers non-stop.

"What are you doing for food? The Dutch snatched all three boats, which completely embarrassed my Zheng family."

"Marshal, the merchant ship we escorted was originally smooth sailing, but after passing by